Trump Is Still Pulling Out of Paris Agreement, Despite Chatter of a Reversal, Experts Say

Title

CNBC discusses the possibility of President Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement with Myron Ebell.

President Donald Trump is unlikely to reverse his position to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, despite the White House line that he is open to renegotiating the international deal to tackle global warming, energy policy experts from both ends of the political spectrum say.

...

Myron Ebell, who led the Environmental Protection Agency's transition team through Trump's inauguration, said it was a mistake to leave "wiggle room" in the withdrawal announcement. In his view, it has allowed elements within the White House and State Department that do not agree with the president to cause "mischief."

Ebell, a prominent skeptic of climate science, said he believes The Wall Street Journal report was not based on a miscommunication between Eissenstat and foreign counterparts. He thinks it signals an attempt to prevent a full U.S. withdrawal by pro-Paris Agreement elements in the administration.

"I think they are going to create mischief, and I think this little trial balloon was an example of that mischief," he said, referring to the Montreal meeting.

"The president has spoken, but he hasn't enforced discipline, and so I think we will continue to see these outbreaks until he does," said Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank.